Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1887-03-25
A BEA FtTTFTL EXPERIAIENT
watching n Drop Of Water for Right
Nenr- ind ~ Half.

Rev. Dr. DHllinger, president Of the Royal
Microscopic society, recently delivered an
address which, says the London Telegraph,
gives an example Of the admirable and un-
censing devotion shown by our best scien-
tifc men. After dwelling on certain re
cent improvements in the construction of
lenses, the president, ON the occasion refer
red to, proceeded to describe a series of
experiments which he has conducted for |
nenrly ten patient and faithful years. Long
ago Darwin expressed the opinion that if |
we would actually observe and demonstrate
the manner i'm which living creatures adapt |
themselves, by inward and outward modi- |
fcations, to changed circumstances, and so |
produce what are called new species, it |
must be by watching the lowest and least |
visible organisms. To such "A task Dr. Dial |
hnger set himself. His project was to place |
and keep under his lens several varieties OF |
those minute monads which are incessant-
" multiplying by assure or division, and
which are nearly at the bottom of animal
ed nature. The generations OF these crea
lures succeed each other about every four
minutes 50 that in the course of an hour,
he can view the passage of II or 10 gener-
atoms, which would answer to something
like 400 year, of human history, while a
day of monadic existence would represent
y
nads live in water, and by connecting the
drop that serves them for "a habtable aud
roomy ocean with the ingenious apparatus
Of Prof. Schafer the temperature Of thi,
drop can he either kept constant or raised
very slowly and with absolutely steady pre-
cision Here therefore were the condi-
tuns requisite for gradually altering the
climate III which these lnunuds throvc
and, if it could he proved that such TINY
mlusoria could indeed be slowly acctstom-
ed to changes greater than would hr SUI
fered by animals removed from the clua
tor 10 the pole, then bright and tiustWor-
thy light would be cast ON the notifications
Of life which we see arrived at ON the
earth, and Darwin's great law would be
largely removed from theory to recorded
fact To carry out so very delicate an in
vestigation, however. it would have To- be
| prolonged for months and even years, in
| order to initiate the immense elaboration
with which nature herself accompishes
! every substantial change in her highest
| productions Night and day, winter and
summer, the patient gaze must be liked ON
those merest Specks of silyery life which
| had tO he nurscd into new conditions of tx
istence The slightest accident to the APP
paratus might in one moment render
the whole experiment void and leave the
| drop of water IA lileess these islands
would be If another glaclal period sudden
Is arrived. The only reward. on the other
| hand. for successful and almost incuucoIva-
| BILE perseverance would be the discovery of
truth and the reinforcement of Darwin
sublime generalization But, for the sake
Of these which always satisfy the noble
arlnr of science, DR. Dallmgcr has given
"a many years Of his life as were spent by
the Greeks in the siege Of Troy, and has
apparently won scientific victory, the val
ne Of which Is rs signal as his ingenuity
and devotion are admirable.
We will endeavor very briefly 10 describe
the method and the outcome of his most
remarkable experiments. The group of
microscopic monads were put under the
lens in a well-ftted water cell at their usu
al temperature of go Fair the apart
ment, the apparatus and all around being
carefully kept IN precise unison. The doc
tor then spent the first four months of his
observation in raising the temperature
time after time by stages less than one
sixth Of degree until his swarm Of pro
tozoa had reached the new and advanced
reading of 20 Fair This change never
theless. had no more disturbed them than
that experienced by a British family when it
migrates from London to Cape Town the
life-histury of each group remained unal
tered they moved, gyrated. fed and split
themselves into new individuals in Just the
same manner and within much the same
periods as before When, however. tire,
more degrees had been added to the 20, tn,
munads showed signs of being decidedly in
convenienced They we're neither rs live
ly nor as productive rs formerly vet, by
keeping them exactly at this range during
two quiet months they regained their full
1 u. L 4
who had become seasoned by SURVIVING
the first hot spell in "a tropical country
They could now standby gradual steps 81
increase-the enhanced heat of - whicl
was reached at the beginning of the l2ti
, month. Yet here, again, a long pause wa
, ! found 10 he necessary the new genera
| tiOns of those silver SpcCks of life under TIN
, glass were not all alike strong enough L
live and thrive. What answers to sun
/ strokes and fevers with us had caused va
cant spaces to appear in the water-drop
aud il was only when the momads showc'
- themselves once more lively aud prolific 10y
"A long era of repOse that the careful doctu
administered further dose of calorlc
During eight years and half did h
thus slowly and unweariedy proceed in tn
r same course, augmentng the heat oi thel
surrounding element now and then 10y slo,
>, and slight additions, pausing afterward fo
months 10 give the minute creature, tim
- to accommodate themselves when sign
;, were visible that they were under difhcul
+ ties, and always going forward to new tn
=. ais of endurance when they had recovered
In this manner after all those many year,
-, DR. Dallnger brought his small patients I
the astonishing range of l5S Fair. Il
~ which the latest generation appeared "a
:, Jolly as sand boys. II is not possible I
i say how much farther their tiny constitt
4 ton could have been trained to defy IL
-, creasing warmth, because the research va
=, at this point accidentally terminated hi
il will he seen that the doctor had hrougl
the little people of his drop-world to su'
- tain a heat nearly 100 higher than tn
a. hourishing point of their ancestors, til
-. species of which, if taken at the begin
. ming, would have been completely an9 IL
i simultaneously killed in water of l4O
'n When we have added that these minut
i. saamanders persisted directly they wei
put back into their ancestral medium
- 50 it will be manifest that the ndefatg
=. BILE doctor had, by the magic of science, e
=. fected a miracle of nature almost as stril
III ing as if the protococous navilis, whi'
y. stains the Arctic snow with crimson h,
~ been transformed into the great grass
- and feathery bamhoos which clothe Il
~, burning sides of u mountain under Il
. ! equator.